A man who went on a wrecking spree at Altnagelvin Hospital’s accident and emergency department was today jailed for four years for a number of offences.

John Paul Harkin, 36 and whose address was given as Maghaberry Prison , committed the offences on February 13, 2015, when he was taken from the Bishop Street courthouse to the hospital after he became unwell and complained of chest pains.

An ambulance took Harkin to the hospital accompanied by three prison officers. He was placed in a cubicle and the officers uncuffed him when he asked to use the toilet. Harkin exited the toilet and walked quickly down a dead end corridor away from the prison officers.

He entered a cubicle where an elderly female patient was laying on a hospital bed. The officers followed Harkin who armed himself with a crutch and placed the hospital bed containing the elderly patient between himself and the officers.

The prison officers managed to remove the patient from the cubicle. Harkin then shouted at them that he had Hepatitis C and he swung the crutch at the officers and threatened to stab them with a needle.

Harkin then pushed the hospital bed over causing damage to an oxygen cylinder. He pulled down a light fitting and damaged other hospital equipment and used a metal spike from the fitting to strike out at the prison officers.

He spat in the face of one of the officers and then struck him in the arm with the metal spike, inflicting a puncture wound. He then threw the device at a hospital porter hitting him on the forehead.

The police were called and Harkin was arrested and taken to Strand Road Police Station . When the police later checked on him in his detention cell they found him standing naked having urinated on the cell floor.

The following morning when the police were taking him to court, he became agitated then violent and banged his head on the cell wall. He threatened to kill a police officer and said he was going to shoot him when he was released.

During his police interviews Harkin told the police he had been given medication which gave him diarrhoea at hospital. He accused the prison officers of attacking him in the hospital and said his actions were to defend himself.

Judge Philip Babington said that Harkin, who had 148 previous criminal convictions, has been assessed as presenting a significant risk of causing serious harm to members of the public and was a high risk re-offender.

Judge Babington also sentenced Harkin for eight other offences he’d pleaded guilty to. They included a hijacking, stealing a car, threats to kill and handling property which had been stolen in the Republic of Ireland. Those offences occurred in December 2013, February 2015 and in March of this year.